Google Invests in Affordable Housing in Mountain View

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Google, not only a tech titan, is also a real estate investor specializing in affordable housing with its latest project in its own backyard -- Mountain View, Calif.

The 51-unit Franklin Street Apartments, an affordable housing complex where families that make 50 percent or less of the Santa Clara County area median income can pay a percentage of the $3,500 to $4,000 market rate monthly rent, held its grand opening Wednesday in Mountain View, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Google invested $6.5 million in the $23.4 million complex, one of the 15 affordable housing projects it's helped fund in 12 states across the country.

"The city of Mountain View has been a wonderful home to Google," said Google's head of corporate finance Kojo Ako-Asare, "so we are more than thrilled to help others make this community their home as well."

Google also paid $81,859 for free Internet access and computer equipment for the development, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

At first glance, we thought this story might have been about how Google was creating apartments for its partying interns who "terrorized" their North San Jose neighbors earlier this summer. However, it's really about Google investing in the community -- even if the company is getting a federal tax credit for its philanthropy.